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Church And State - The Mandate Of The Establishment Clause: Wall Of Separation Or Benign Neutrality., William J. Cornelius

St. Mary's Law Journal

Instead of continuing down the path of confusing, contradictory, and inconsistent nonestablishment clause decisions, the Court should opt for a new approach—benign neutrality. The Court currently follows one of three general approaches when deciding nonestablishment clause issues—Wall of Separation theory, Strict Neutrality theory, or the Accommodation theory. None of these three approaches has led to any clear standards or principles. The Wall of Separation theory has been argued to be the most historically accurate representation of the Framer’s intent, but that is inaccurate. Instead, the Framers pursued religious freedom instead of complete separation in order to partially avoid usurpation by …